The Labour Party has achieved its biggest poll lead since Sir Keir Starmer became leader in April of this year.
Mr Starmer’s party is enjoying a five-point swing, according to the latest YouGov poll, while the Conservatives have dropped three points. Labour now sits at 40 per cent, the Conservatives at 35.
The figures were announced in The Times’ Red Box newsletter, for which YouGov regularly completes its own polls.
Online critics are blaming Boris Johnson for the public’s accelerated disbelief in the Conservative Party’s ability to lead.
Meanwhile, Michel Barnier has reportedly blocked a plan by the prime minister to begin one-on-one bargaining talks with EU leaders, in an attempt to finally reach an agreement in Brexit trade and security talks.
It is claimed the European Commission’s head of task force has said Mr Johnson will not be able to meet with EU political leaders to find common ground in the ongoing rows over future access to Britain’s fishing grounds and common standards.
Mr Barnier is believed to have claimed No 10 wanted to trigger a “tug of war” over at least 30 unresolved issues in the hope of securing a number of concessions.
Mr Johnson planned to meet with Angela Merkel and Ursula von der Leyen, among others, according to reports – but Mr Barnier has said these sessions should not take place until the overarching Brexit agreement is in its final stages.
No 10 refuses to say if Johnson thinks all US votes should be counted
Downing Street today refused to say whether Boris Johnson believes that all votes in the US election should be counted.
In an effort to avoid the PM being dragged into controversy over the presidential poll, a No 10 spokesman would say only that the electoral processes used were “a matter for the relevant US authorities”.
His comments came as Joe Biden overtook Donald Trump in key battleground state Pennsylvania. The Republican candidate has continued on his legal battle to stop mail-in votes being counted in a number of US states, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent Mr Biden from being declared the next president.
Under repeated questioning from reporters at a daily press briefing, the No 10 spokesman declined to make any comment on Mr Trump’s incendiary and unsupported claims of fraud in the presidential poll. But he said that the UK government remains confident in the electoral systems used in the US.
Andrew Woodcock, our political editor, has the full story:
Sam Hancock6 November 2020 14:41
Conservative MPs urge Johnson to take London out of lockdown as cases fall
Boris Johnson’s colleagues are thought to be persuading him to take London out of lockdown and move it into tier 1. The move comes as figures show coronavirus cases falling in 21 boroughs across the capital.
Mr Johnson is reportedly being lobbied to significantly ease restrictions in the capital should the PM’s goal of getting Covid under control by 2 December be achieved.
The biggest drop in cases, in the week beginning 31 October, was in Kingston by 29.4 per cent, then Kensington & Chelsea by 24.6 per cent, Bromley by 22.1 per cent and Southwark by 21.9 per cent.
MPs have however stressed that Londoners must still follow lockdown rules to continue to reduce infection levels and that hospitalisations were still rising, which will likely lead to more deaths in coming weeks, according to reports.
A new graphic by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows the infection rate flattening in London, even before the second lockdown was announced on Saturday.
Mr Johnson has been largely criticised today for using out of date figures and confusing graphics to justify the second national lockdown the UK now finds itself in.
Sam Hancock6 November 2020 14:04
Government adviser warns ‘unwise’ to resurrect Eat Out scheme
A Sage adviser has warned Boris Johnson’s tier system is not a “sensible” strategy for controlling coronavirus and suggested a return to policies such as Eat Out to Help Out when England’s restrictions are eased would be “really unwise”.
The remarks from professor John Edmunds came after the PM said the current lockdown will expire on 2 December and outlined a return to the previous tiered approach.
Insisting that “some restrictions” will have to remain in December, Mr Edmunds also predicted the country could “start to come out of this kind of nightmare of this epidemic” around Easter time – a year on from the outbreak of the pandemic in Britain.
The Independent’s political correspondent, Ashley Cowburn, reports:
Sam Hancock6 November 2020 13:23
Irish Sea tunnel
Meanwhile, this is what Boris Johnson is getting up to today:
Zoe Tidman6 November 2020 12:56
People polled by YouGov also thought Keir Starmer would make a better prime minister than the current one:
Zoe Tidman6 November 2020 12:41
Election poll
How would people vote in a general election at the moment?
YouGov found things would look pretty good for Labour:
Zoe Tidman6 November 2020 12:37
It comes after the Bank of England decided to pump billions into the economy amid a bleaker outlook:
Zoe Tidman6 November 2020 12:26
Brexit uncertainty and Covid lockdowns to plunge EU into year-long recession, new report says
The EU has said coronavirus lockdowns and its impending separation from Britain are leading to what could be the bloc’s worst economic recession on record.
In its Autumn Economic Forecast, the European Commission said next year’s recovery would be more difficult as Britain leaves the single market and customs union, as UK-EU trade relations are left hanging in the balance.
The report said: “It is assumed … the EU and UK will trade on WTO Most Favoured Nation rules from 1 January 2021 onward. This implies a much less beneficial trade relationship with economic costs for the UK, and to a lesser extent, the EU.”
Economists previously predicted the Eurozone economy would shrink by 7.8 per cent in 2020 before growth restarted in the new year.
Economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said in the report: “After the deepest recession in EU history in the first half of this year and a very strong upswing in the summer, Europe’s rebound has been interrupted due to the resurgence in Covid-19 cases.
“Growth will return in 2021 but it will be two years until the European economy comes close to regaining its pre-pandemic level.”
(Getty)
Sam Hancock6 November 2020 11:54
Bloomberg projects effect of no-trade-deal Brexit on UK economy
Sam Hancock6 November 2020 11:03
Denmark removed from UK’s travel corridors list
Denmark has been removed from the UK government’s list of safe places to travel due to an outbreak of coronavirus cases in the European country’s mink farms, the transport secretary has confirmed.
Anyone arriving in the UK from Denmark after 4am on Friday must now self-isolate for 14 days.
Grant Shapps said in a statement the decision came as Danish health authorities had reported “widespread” outbreaks at mink farms and a “variant strain” of the virus spreading to local communities.
He said: “I understand that this will be concerning for both people currently in Denmark and the wider UK public, which is why we have moved quickly to protect our country and prevent the spread of the virus to the UK.”
The Danish government released a statement to say a mutation of the virus had been found in 12 people infected by minks, which farmers have been ordered to cull en masse, but experts said the significance of any variant strain and its effect on humans was unclear because it was yet to be studied.
Denmark was only added to the quarantine-free list on October 25.
The Conservative Party is believed to be using a rate of 100 as the threshold above which it considers triggering quarantine conditions. This is up from 20 in recent months. The UK’s own rate is 235.
Mr Shapps has launched a taskforce to develop methods of reducing the 14-day self-isolation period for people arriving from non-exempt locations.
He said the government was considering a “test and release regime” which would still involve a quarantine period of at least a week.
Additional reporting by PA
(AFP via Getty Images)
Sam Hancock6 November 2020 10:50
